


Gardening

by yerdua



Series: Little Les Amis Adventures [2]
Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-18
Updated: 2013-07-18
Packaged: 2017-12-20 13:58:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/888069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yerdua/pseuds/yerdua
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jehan had screamed and jumped onto a beanbag once he heard they'd be having gardening class once a week. The garden was his home, his safe place, his playground. He knew his way around roses and hydrangeas as though maneuvering through monkey bars and domes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gardening

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, it's been a while. I know that this chapter is really choppy and some parts sound a bit forced, but it was the best I could do on short notice. I was just dying to write something again. Maybe I'll go back to it when I feel up to it...

Jehan had screamed and jumped onto a beanbag once he heard they'd be having gardening class once a week. The garden was his home, his safe place, his playground. He knew his way around roses and hydrangeas as though maneuvering through monkey bars and domes. 

He came to class the next day in a dark blue sweater patterned with felt daisies and ready to go in his polka dotted gardening boots. He had even brought in his own watering can. Feuilly had clapped in delight at the 'Made in Poland' stamp at the bottom of the can. Ms. Chetta called the class's attention hastily, having started ten minutes late.

"Come on, kids, settle down! We'll be starting the day with our very first gardening session! Now, this is going to be outdoors, so everybody read the essential agreements for out-of-classroom locations. Can anyone who has any past gardening experience raise their hand?"

Jehan raised his hand immediately. Grantaire sighed, and slowly raised his too.

"Excellent! If anyone has any questions, go to either me, Jehan, or Grantaire! Fall in line please!"

The first graders crowded around until they formed a line. Jehan was swinging his can as he followed Courfeyrac out the door. Grantaire was walking alongside Enjolras, most of the kids having broken the line already. "I never knew you knew about gardens, R!" said Enjolras. "Well, not many people really know me." replied Grantaire quietly, then looked longingly at his grape juice box as they passed their cubby holes. 

Ms. Chetta led them out through a back door. Jehan gasped, jumping up and down. The garden was perfect, the soil soft and dark brown. Lines of small flowers adorned the corners of the space, the colors varying from bright to pastel. Grantaire smiled softly, bending down to observe a small butterfly that had landed. Combeferre noticed the abundance of winged beauties, and wandered around the garden to follow them. 

"Now, class, I'll be demonstrating how to plant seeds, and how to transfer flowers into pots. We'll also be learning about how to care for your plants."

Grantaire sat down beside Enjolras, ignoring the lecture Ms. Chetta was giving. It's not as though he hated her, in fact, she was probably one of the nicest ladies he knew. It was just that he was basically a mini-expert on flowers and gardening. His mother was a botanist, and they had a greenhouse behind their house. She would show him around the plants and flowers, sometimes cutting some for him to keep in his room. However, he noticed nowadays that she'd wince at his father as they ate meals and the screaming from his ceiling grew louder night by night. There was something they were hiding from him.

Ms. Chetta had given them the go signal to work, and Grantaire set off to moving some marigolds into a pot before Enjolras stomped over, frowning. "Taire, I think this is wrong…" In his hands was a pot, filled to the brim with water, with soil floating around in clumps. Seeds littered the sides of the pot, some sticking to the soil. "Umm…" was R's only reply, speechless at what lay before him.

Enjolras sighed, plopping down next to him. "I wish I knew how to garden, like you. I wanna have a nice job and be really successful one day. I have to start having really good grades even now." Grantaire shifted to his knees, taking the pot from Enjolras and removing the seeds. He threw out the water and soil and set the empty pot before Enjolras.

"First off, that was too much water. Only certain plants need that much. Tomatoes don't. Now, let's put some soil. Then, we'll lay seeds around, and make sure they aren't too near each other. Then–"

Enjolras listened intently as Grantaire demonstrated how to properly grow tomatoes. Musichetta grinned from her side of the garden, having looked up from helping Courfeyrac and his carrot seeds. She knew from the start that she was destined to be a teacher. There was absolutely nothing more wonderful than watching caterpillars turn into butterflies. 

Speaking of butterflies, Combeferre was engrossed in one that had decidedly landed on his finger. He grinned largely, lifting up his hand. It flew off, flapping its blue wings quickly. He sighed, turning back to Marius and Bahorel. Jehan and Courfeyrac had drifted over to them so as to be with some friends, and Courf was animatedly talking about his dream last night as Jehan stood on his tip toes to water some carnations Ms. Chetta brought in. Montparnasse started nagging Jehan about his sweater and his boots that at some point during the class, Ms. Chetta had to pull Bahorel away from a large shovel which he had stolen in an attempt to attack him. ("But Ms. Chetta, he even called Jehan the s-word!")

Combeferre was just about to remind Ms. Chetta that it was already time to pack up, but then he realized that something was missing. Or rather, two people. "Ms. Chetta, where are Joly and Bossuet?" 

"Oh, Joly called in sick today. He also said that he doesn't want to participate in gardening because he's scared of getting germs. His parents wrote him a note. Bossuet unfortunately is in the hospital. He tripped on the way to school and broke his ankle."

Turning away from Combeferre, she loudly announced: "Alright, gardening session is over! Finish up what you have to and wash your hands in the corner sink! Line up once you're done!"

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once their class had been let out, Grantaire sat down on a bench, wrapping his arms around his knees. He decided that once he got home, he'd paint some flowers with his mom and take a nap. He was tired after their PE class that day. Looking around, he caught sight of a little girl by one of the classroom windows of the older grades. She was scrawny, on her toes and craning her neck to get a good view of the whiteboard. Grantaire was confused. Why was she watching that class?

Grantaire watched as students began to stand up, packing up their things. Seeing that they were done, the girl sprinted off the school grounds passing by Grantaire in a blur. Grantaire furrowed his eyebrows for a moment then shrugged, climbing into his car as it pulled up in front of him. He would find out what she was doing another day.


End file.
